1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector assembly, and particularly to a modular jack connector assembly provided with a Light Emitting Diode (LED), used in various electronic devices.
2. Description of Related Art
A connector assembly provided with a LED is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,511, which was issued on Nov. 8, 2005. The connector assembly comprises a plurality of connector groups each having a pair of opposite daughter boards, a terminal module disposed between the pair of daughter boards, and a frame mounted at a rear portion of the connector group. The frame has a pair of light carriers formed at an upper portion thereof, a pair of LEDs fixed within the light carriers, and a pair of conduits connected to the light carriers and extending forwardly above the daughter board to transmit outwardly the light produced from the LED.
The connector assembly has an excessive dimension not only in height for extension of the conduits but also in length for allowing the light carrier together with the LED disposed at the rear portion thereof.
Additionally, the LEDs are fixed in a predetermined position of the frame so that the manufacture of the connector assembly is complicated. Furthermore, the LEDs could not be easily configured to work under different requirements.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,422 (the '422 patent) issued on Sep. 5, 2000 discloses a connector assembly having a pair of LEDs positioned on a base member and a pair of conduits mounted to a connector housing and aligned with corresponding LEDs to transmit light produced from the LEDs. The base member to be mounted on a substrate has a plurality of signal conditioning elements formed thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,239 (the '239 patent) issued on Mar. 2, 1999 discloses a connector assembly having a pair of LEDs exposed on a base member and a pair of conduits located above corresponding LEDs to transmit light produced from the LEDs. The conduits are fixed in the insulative housing and extending along an upper portion and a rear portion of the connector assembly.
The LEDs disclosed in '422 and '239 patents are disposed above the base member and the conduits are mounted in the connector assembly only via the engagement between the conduits and the insulative housing. The conduits might not be fixed to the connector assembly firmly. Therefore, it is hard to achieve an exact and reliable alignment between the conduits and the LEDs.
Hence, an improved connector assembly is required to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the related art.